No Ticket Required: Come one, all to Secret City Festival

Lloyd Stokes and Bobbie Martin, both of the Oak Ridge Heritage & Preservation Association, continue to add their energy and enthusiasm to the Secret City Festival year after year.

by Darrell Richardson/Staff

by Darrell Richardson

drichardson@oakridger.com

Lloyd Stokes and Bobbie Martin, both of the Oak Ridge Heritage & Preservation Association, continue to add their energy and enthusiasm to the Secret City Festival year after year.

Formed in September 1999, ORHPA has spent the past 14 years in contact with many local residents and visitors to heighten their awareness of Oak Ridge’s rich, unique history.

“This is our 11th year with the Secret City Festival putting up displays inside the ‘A,’ ‘B’ and ‘C’ rooms of the Civic Center,” Martin stated.

“Our theme this year is Oak Ridge Making History 1943-2013 and our focus is the building of the town, homes and government plants.”

Just two years ago, the Oak Ridge-based Adams, Craft, Hertz & Walker architectural firm donated a photo collection of the original housing and floor plans built here. There will be 34 images to view at the Festival.

“The most popular,” says Martin, “are the alphabet houses. Eight different styles of these ‘cemesto’ homes were built, and they were considered permanent housing in the beginning — in contrast to the many temporary types of housing built.”

Well over 3,000 cemestos were built among the three-mile area starting on the east end of town at Arkansas Avenue and continuing to Pennsylvania Avenue, according to Martin. Besides the cemesto or “alphabet” homes, there were a dozen other styles of homes built by the government, making a total of 8,777 residential buildings plus dormitories and apartments.

“In 1943, the Guest House opened as the residence stop-over for many of the world’s leading scientists and executives during the early years of the Manhattan Engineering District,” said Martin. “The wooden H-plan structure served as the hotel for official guests such as Oppenheimer, Fermi, Compton and many more — who for security reasons registered under assumed names.”

Martin invites everyone to attend the absolutely free Secret City Festival this Friday and Saturday in A.K. Bissell Park and the Oak Ridge Civic Center to learn more about Gen. Groves and Col. Nichols, local pen-and-ink artist Fred Heddleson and Manhattan Project photographer Ed Westcott, “the 1943 cooks of Oak Ridge,” the U.S. Army’s Special Engineer Detachment and more.

“We’ve got a lot of one-of-a-kind exhibits,” adds Stokes, whose Lloyd and Betty Stokes Collection of artifacts and memorabilia is always a big hit at the Festival and truly has to be seen to be believed.

“People come through (the exhibits, etc.) but most don’t realize what they’re seeing,” Stokes said. “We have exhibits from past years, as well as new exhibits; and these tell a story some have never seen or heard about.”

So join the more than 20,000 visitors and residents who celebrate the end of World War II and the heritage of Oak Ridge from 1945 to the present. This year’s festival features living history activities and demonstrations, “period” camps with vehicles and artillery on display, bus tours of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Graphite Reactor and other U.S. Department of Energy facilities, arts and cultural activities, activities for young people of all ages, and two concerts scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday featuring The Dirty Guv’nahs and Rick Springfield, respectively.

While the concert tickets do cost $20 apiece, all of the other events are free! Visit www.secretcityfestival.com to learn more, or drop by The Oak Ridger offices today (Friday) and pick up a copy of this year’s Secret City Festival special section published in Thursday’s print edition of The Oak Ridger and featuring much more information and a pull-out map of the 2013 Secret City Festival.